Smart City Expo Pre-Day Event at FC Barcelona

Ahead of the 2016 Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Bismart and Microsoft together organised a Pre-Day Event to share the most state-of-the-art innovative business intelligence solutions that will have a major impact on the public sector.

More than 400 government officials, mayors, deputy mayors, and urban architects gathered for the event to learn more about the latest technological advancements of not only Bismart and Microsoft, but of Sparked, City Transformation Agency, Genetec, CGI, GeodanNEXT International, Cubic, Schneider Electric, and Libelium. At the event we also heard from officials from the Government of Catalonia about how already some of these solutions are being implemented and how they help to improve the lives of their citizens.

Jordi Monés, an official of FC Barcelona, gave a welcome address and spoke about how the club uses Big Data to gain critical insights about not only player performances on the field but also business operations off the field. These insights have helped power the continued success of one of the most prestigious sports institutions in the world.

Sergi Marcen, the government of Catalonia's Head of Delegation to the UK and Ireland spoke about some of the solution implementation that Catalonia has taken on board. These solutions have helped the Catalan government serve its people more efficiently, quickly, and intelligently.

Microsoft's Public Sector Corporate Vice President, Toni Townes-Whitley was also present and inspired the audience about the company's great work of moving forward into a new era of how technology serves citizens of the world. Her speech on digital transformation in government concluded with her being presented with a gift from FC Barcelona - her very own Blaugrana shirt!

Francesc Giralt then spoke about Smart Cities in 2016. Giralt speech related to how the future looks to be shaping up for how urban spaces are planned, with the latest cutting edge technological advancements at the forefront of how cities are designed.

Attendees enjoyed networking opportunities over a tapas lunch, with fideua and paella prepared by Michelin Star chef Carles Abellan.

Our Dutch friends at Sparked told the crowd about how some of their ingenious solutions are changing the way cities in Holland govern for their citizens, their image of a pure cloud-based city, and object recognition in the city through machine learning. Antoni Vives, CEO at City Transformation Agency also spoke about his urban planning vision and the challenges that come with moving to a more digital world.

Albert Isern then showcased some of Bismart's Smart City solutions to the attendees. Demonstrations were given by Albert as well as Jordi París, Ismael Vallvé, and Cillian Shields, showcasing some of Bismart's most exciting new products such as Traffic Fatalities Prevention, Urban Planning: School Coverage Model in Berlin, Crime Prediction, and an Intelligent City Bot designed to help tourists and residents alike with the heavy administrative tasks that citizens rarely enjoy having to do.

Those in attendance then enjoyed an introduction to Bismart's Happiness Recognition & Tourism Recommendations, and Smart Destination solutions - both designed to improve the quality of tourism a city can offer to visitors.

Jean Philippe Deby, Business Development Directo EMEA at Genetec offered his ideas on how to make cities safer, by creating a collaborative city-wide program. Gary Bell, DCP-SafeC Programme Director rounded off the afternoon sessions with his talk on digital collaboration platform.

After a coffee break, the conversation turned to how digital cities were educated cities. Gerrit Schipper, CEO of GeodanNEXT International, spoke about decision support solutions using Geocraft & Hololens. As the topics turned to healthcare in Smart Cities, Francesc Iglesies, Albert Isern, and Josep Manel Picas introduced some of their ideas on how to ensure the cities of the future were healthier cities.

Andy Taylor and Dave Roat of Cubic spoke about their fascinating solutions for transportation in Smart Cities, about specifically their deployment of multi-modal solutions empowering urban transportation management. Many cities across the world use Cubic's transport solutions including London, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Nicolas Perelló of Schneider Electric then shared his plans for sustainable cities. Intelligent planning can lead to intelligent building facilities and infrastructure, with real-time management at the forefront of his solution. Libelium showcased their city sensors and how Internet of Things is being used to help municipalities make smart decisions by being more informed of what's going on in their constituencies.

The day's seminars ended on the theme of sustainability, with Bernhard Ebert and Johannes Petrowisch of COPADATA speaking. They enlightened with their speech on industrial Internet of Things for driving operational excellence to new heights. Immediately following the talks were a Q&A session, networking over cava, and an exclusive VIP tour of one of the most glorious sporting arenas on the planet - FC Barcelona's Camp Nou.